That's a jump of 31percent from the year-ago quarter, when Apple reported services revenue of $7.27 billion. It's also ahead of consensus estimates of $9.21 billion, according to StreetAccount, and a jump from the $9.19 billion Apple reported for the second quarter.

The company noted in its earnings release that services revenue "included a favorable one-time item of $236 million in connection with the final resolution of various lawsuits."

The company's stock rose about 2 percent after hours on a strong quarter overall. Apple's third quarter ended June 30.

The company is inching toward a goal set in January 2017 by CEO Tim Cook to double services revenue to more than $14 billion a quarter by 2020.

The catch-all services category includes the App Store, Apple Care, Apple Pay, iTunes and cloud services. Many on Wall Street have been bullish on the segment, which last quarter accounted for just 15 percent of Apple's total revenue. The segment has for several quarters been far outpacing iPhone revenue in growth rate, falling second only to growth in revenue from Apple's "other products" category, which includes the Apple Watch.